Ex-President Chun's son gets suspended jail term for tax evasion

A Seoul court on Wednesday sentenced a son of disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan to three years in prison with a four-year stay of execution for tax evasion in a 2006 land deal.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence to Chun Jae-yong, the second of the former president's three sons, for colluding with his uncle to dodge 2.7 billion won ($2.4 million) in transfer taxes in the process of selling a plot of land in December 2006.

The younger Chun was also ordered to pay a fine of 4 billion won.

In the same ruling, the court sentenced the uncle, Lee Chang-seok, to two years and six months in prison with a four-year stay of execution, and a fine of 4 billion won for colluding with his nephew.

The former president, who seized power in a military coup in 1979, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to return to state coffers some 220 billion won he had accumulated illegally while in office from 1980 to 1988.

Chun had refused to make most of the payment and claimed he was almost penniless, prompting prosecutors to launch an investigation into Chun's family to collect his ill-gotten wealth. (Yonhap)